Improvement in buffer-handles for furniture



'J. A. WHITAKER.

I BUFFER-HANDLES FOR FURNITURE. No. 193,359. Patented J'u 1yZ4,1877.

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JOHN A. WHITAKER, OF HAMILTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, DAVID GRAY, AND A. A. BROWN.

IMPROVEMENT IN BUFFER-HANDLES FOR FURNITURE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 193,359, dated July 24, 1877; application filed March 22, 1877. i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JoHN A. WHITAKER, of Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Buffer-Handles for Furniture; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 represents a plan or top view of my improved protector as applied to use. Fig. 2 represents a front view of the same; and Fig. 3 represents an edge view of the same without a covering or padding.

The object of my invention is to provide a combined buffer and handle for furniture, which will protect the walls of rooms from being injured by the contact of furniture, and at the same time serve as a proper handle for moving the article of furniture to which it is attached.

The frameA is made of elastic metal, curved, as represented, to form the handle, and provided with a longitudinal slot, 1), at each end, through which the single screw a is inserted at each end, to secure it to the furniture.

The line 0, Fig. 1, represents the surface of an article of furniture, as the back of a sofa or divan, to which the protecting handle D is secured by the screws a a, which pass through slots b 1) formed in the metal frame A of the handle. Between each end of the handle and the article of furniture to which it is attached a soft-metal plate, d, (preferably made of zinc,) is inserted, to serve as a raised seat for the buffer-handle to slide upon, as herein specified.

The screws on a pass centrally through the seat-plates d, to retain them immovably.

The frame may be made of any suitable elastic material, and of the form required, to be grasped by the hand, as represented,and may be covered with any fabric that will not mar the paper or walls of a house against which the article of furniture is placed.

When an article of furniture to which my improved bufl'er-handle is attached is pushed against the wall of a room, the handle, when coming in contact therewith, will yield, so as to prevent injury to either the furniture or the plastering and paper against which it strikes, because the thin frame is made of springy material, and is provided with the slots, which permit its longitudinal movement upon the smooth soft metal raised seats d, which movement compensates for the transverse yielding action of the handle when forced against the side of a room or other object.

It is obvious that the screws should have broad heads, and that they should not be inserted so tightly as to obstruct the free sliding movement of the handle upon the seats (1, which, being of softer metal, serve as selflubricators for the slotted flattened ends of the metal buffer-handle.

Small zinc washers may also be applied between the screw-heads and the slotted ends of the bufl'er-handle, to afford the greatest freedom of longitudinal action to the device when in use.

Having described my invention, I claim, as an improved article of manufacture The yielding buffer-handle, consisting of an elastic metallic support, A, covered with suitable material, and having slots 1) b at each end, adapted to engage with the pins to, which are passed through the soft-metal seats d, as and for the purpose set forth.

Witness my hand this 13th day of March, 1877.

JOHN A. WHITAKER. 

